Museography Fall 2004 by Kalamazoo Valley Museum

A unique exploration of children around the world…

PLUS: Off to the races! Diversity in Kalamazoo A diary puzzle Mystery “What is It?” Movies at the KVM

and more!

Log on to www.kalamazoomuseum.org Visit our website for more information about activities and special events at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. Find out the latest schedules for films, concerts, and programs offered at the KVM, as well as special activity pages and museum links.

MARY JANE STRYKER

Theater

Sunday History Series

Preschool Performances

Curator Tom Dietz continues his series on the early history of Kalamazoo County’s 16 townships in addition to two new programs. The Townships of Kalamazoo County Sept. 19: Climax Oct. 17: Pavilion Oct. 31: Charleston Dec. 5: Comstock Jan. 9: Ross

Thanks to a generous donation in memory of Burton Henry Upjohn, a series of performances just for preschoolers is offered the ﬁrst Saturday of each month at 10 a.m. Seating is limited—free tickets are available at 9 a.m. on the day of the performance.

Oct. 3: Kalamazoo’s 19th Cen. Jewish Community Nov. 14: Off to the Races!

Dec. 4: Carri Wilson

Oct. 2: Jenifer Ivinskas Strauss Nov. 6: Pippin Puppets

For more information, see the theater section of the calendar listings on page 21 of this issue.

Museography is a publication of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum and Kalamazoo Valley Community College Editor: Karen Visser Writer: Tom Thinnes Contributors: Tom Dietz Valerie Eisenberg Paula Metzner Patrick Norris Design: Elizabeth King Photography: Neil Rankin

KALAMAZOO VALLEY MUSEUM COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE James Melvin Derl Oberlin Carol Baker Laura Eiler Tom Fricke Al Heilman Jaye Johnson Patrick Norris, Director

KALAMAZOO VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES A. Christian Schauer, Chairman Robert Kent, Vice Chairman Anna Whitten, Secretary T. Kenneth Young, Treasurer Mary T. Gustas, Trustee Susan L. Miller, Trustee Jeffrey E. Patton, Trustee Marilyn J. Schlack, President Museography is published three times a year: Fall, Winter, and Spring. Questions about Kalamazoo Valley Museum programs described in this publication may be directed to the Kalamazoo Valley Museum offices. Phone: 269.373.7990 or 800.772.3370 Website: www.kalamazoomuseum.org Comments or questions about this publication may be directed to the KVCC Office of Marketing at 269/488-4278. KALAMAZOO VALLEY MUSEUM 230 N. ROSE STREET PO BOX 4070 KALAMAZOO, MI 49003-4070 This magazine is composed of recycled products and is recyclable.

www.kalamazoomuseum.org

Contents Volume 4

ÊIssue

ÊFall

2004

All over the world are “Children Just Like Me”. . . . 3 History in the making: Ethnic diversity in Kalamazoo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Capturing the tesoros of Mexican-American life . . . 6 Off to the races! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 All in the family: Humphrey Products . . . . . . . . . 12 Mary Pengelly: Kalamazoo’s milestone activist . . . 14 Arcadia festival site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Diary of Emeline Rowe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 New Acquisition: Easy-Bake Oven . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Director’s column: Museography’s 10!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 What is it? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Liberty on the Border special exhibition/ Request to borrow artifacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Calendar of events, happenings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Mystery “What is it?” remains a mystery . . . . . . . . . . 23 Movies at the museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside back cover ON THE COVER: The museum’s latest special exhibition, “Children Just Like Me,” celebrates the differences and similarities of children all over the world. More about the exhibition can be found beginning on page 3 of this issue. Look for the * symbol and the icon at right throughout this magazine—they indicate objects you can view in the special Museography display case, located next to the reception desk on the main floor of the museum, or in other exhibit areas throughout the museum.

FROM THE DIRECTOR

History by the Ounce

Museography’s 10! Y

ou are holding Volume 4, Issue 1, of Museography. This edition is our 10th, a bright idea whose time has evidently come. Credit Karen Visser, Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s director of marketing and enrollment services, for the idea of starting a museum magazine. Karen directs the college’s marketing, publicity, and enrollmentmanagement functions. She is also responsible for museum marketing. I will accept responsibility for the name, Museography. It means “writing about museums,” which is an appropriate title for this endeavor. “Museography,” by the way, is a real word and can be found on page 1,614 of Webster’s New International Dictionary, 2nd Edition Unabridged next to the words, “museographer” and “museographist.” Webster fails to define these. I would like to think that the folks writing for our magazine are the “museographers” and the folks reading it are “museographists,” although the dictionary does go on to say that “museographia” would constitute an abnormality: excessive interest in writ2

ing about museums. As with everything we do at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, Museography is very much a group effort. Karen serves as our editor. She sets our deadlines and keeps us on task. Members of the museum staff write the articles that carry bylines. Tom Thinnes is our staff writer. Independent graphic designer Elizabeth King produces the finished product. Museography comes out three times a year: fall, winter, and spring. Museography is our way of reaching out to an adult audience. Each issue is mailed to homes and businesses in Kalamazoo County. Because of reader contacts, we know that Museography is being read by its intended audience. In response to a call for artifacts, photographs, and documents in the Spring 2004 issue alone, we received 38 inquiries. Here are some of the items offered to the museum:

VM Tri-O-Matic portable phonograph, made in Benton Harbor in the 1950s • Emerson portable radio • Lull Carriage Co. sleigh • 1950s women’s clothing • Vietnam-era MIA/ POW bracelets • Milk bottles from Lockshore Creamery • 1874 “Bird’sEye” map of Kalamazoo • 1932 Kalamazoo Public School spelling book • a gout stool (to elevate the feet of a gout sufferer) • the sign from the Kalamazoo Steam Laundry Our spring issue also brought two reminiscences from readers. Mention of Recreation Park in the story on the Dewing family brought a phone call from Laura Brock, the niece of William D. Engleman, who was its general manager and responsible for Recreation Park’s Grand Circuit horse racing and automobile races. Continued on page 23 •

Museography

Special exhibition shows kids that, everywhere under the sun, there are

ithout arranging for a passport or doing some traveling, Southwest Michigan youngsters will be able to meet their peers from 11 parts of the world by visiting the Kalamazoo Valley Museum over the next four months. “Children Just Like Me,” the museum’s current nationally touring exhibition that has a downtown booking through Jan. 9, allows young people to get up close and personal with their counterparts who live on the planet’s continents, and to discover the mutual bonds among diverse populations. Based on the award-winning book of the same name and created by the Cincinnati Museum Center, the 2,500-square-foot attraction showcases the unique diversity of the world’s children while exploring the commonalities they share through each’s language, food, games, music, climate, terrain, beliefs, pets and clothing. At the entrance, a large tactile globe pinpoints the location of each of the 11 children. Life-size cutouts stand adjacent to three-dimensional representations of the children’s homes and surroundings. Multi-sensory, self-paced interactives, including computer stations and digital audio players, introduce visitors to the daily staples in each youngster’s life. The “Children Just Like Me” are: Celina, a 9-year-old member of the Tembe tribe that lives in the Amazon rain forest in Brazil. Omar, 8, a resident of a hamlet near Cancun in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Bogna, a 10-year-old farm boy in Central Poland. Thi Lien, who lives high in the mountains of Northern Vietnam and is 9 years old. Esta, 12, a Maasai tribesman who inhabits the grassy savanna of Tanzania in East Africa. Sarala, who calls a sea-coast village in the southern tip of India home and is 9 years old. Rosita, 8, an Aborigine living in Western Australia. Mohammed, a Muslim resident of Cairo, the capital city of Egypt. He is 9. Levi, 8, an Inuit who lives on Baffin Island in the Arctic Circle. Erdene, a 10-year-old Mongolian shepherd boy. Eight-year-old Olia lives in a suburb of Moscow in Russia and dreams of a career as a ballerina. At a subsequent computer station, visitors can simultaneously experience the spoken and written languages of each child by hearing three phrases—“hello,” “thank you,” and a third that is significontinued on page 4

www.kalamazoomuseum.org

continued from page 3

cant to each particular culture. They can attempt to speak the languages they are hearing. The computer interactive with the Egyptian lad asks the museum’s visiting children questions about their parents, their occupations, a favorite subject in school, and what they would like to be when they grow up. It also shares how the Southwest Michigan responses compare to the exhibition’s two previous stops—at its debut in Cincinnati in 1998 and later in Tucson. “Children and adults all benefit from this short trip around the world,” said Jean Stevens, the museum’s curator of design. “They see parallels in the hopes, dreams, delights and problems expressed. And they can also see that every culture has something special that another doesn’t. “It is a logical extension of what we wanted to accomplish with the last national exhibit, ‘In My Family/En Mi Familia,’ as well as ‘Treasures/Tesoros’ that is still on display,” Stevens said, “and that is to explore the aspects of our own daily lives and compare them to those of children living in a variety of environments. These help visitors to exercise their imaginations. I think that imagining yourself in ‘someone else’s shoes’ is the beginning of developing empathy and cultural understanding.” “Children Just Like Me” takes its theme and name from award-winning books by Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley who traveled for almost two years to more than 30 countries. It was created by the Cincinnati Museum Center in association with the United Nations Children’s Fund to coincide with UNICEF’s 50th anniversary. “We basically recreated all of the 11 children’s home environments,” said Elisabeth Jones, director of traveling exhibits for the Cincinnati museum. “Whatever they are into or wherever they live, we recreated that environment so kids can see how they live, where they live, and what they have in common with those youngsters. “Even though kids live on the other side of the planet,” Jones said, “they like horses or they like math or they play music on a recorder.” Included in the “walking-in-their-shoes” approach to building cultural understanding, Southwest Michigan visitors can sample the feel of an Amazon River canoe, having a tortoise as a pet, the sounds that abound on a Polish farm and the plains of Africa, a game that combines pick-up sticks and jacks, sensing the spices that enhance the flavor of a fish entrée, and insights that went into building the pyramids. The exhibition’s tactile globe gives visitors the opportunity to reach out and touch the places they are “visiting.” Maps show the location of each child’s home and youngsters can get their take-home “passports” stamped as they move from “country” to “country.” “Children Just Like Me” allows visitors to experience the sense of exploration and discovery that is felt when traveling the world, and to know that anywhere one goes, there will be a kindred spirit extending a very human hand.

“Imagining yourself in ‘someone else’s shoes’ is the beginning of developing empathy and cultural understanding.”

Museography

HISTORY IN THE MAKING: SERIES CONCLUSION

he diversity of Kalamazoo County is impressive and has a long history as this “People of Kalamazoo” series of articles has described over the past three years. The 2000 U. S. census indicates that Kalamazoo County residents identified more than 25 European ancestries in addition to Native Americans, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Pacific Islanders. Population groups of Asian, French, Italian, and Polish descent each represent 2 percent or more of the county population in Kalamazoo’s 2000 census. The French were the earliest to be represented in Kalamazoo’s version of the “melting pot.” The first European to see what is now Kalamazoo County was a Frenchman, Robert Cavalier Sieur de la Salle, who led a band of explorers through the county in March 1670. Early fur traders in Kalamazoo—Numaiville, Recollet, Peter Couteau—reflect the long French control of the Great Lakes region. Numaiville may have built the trading post in 1823 that provided important supplies to Kalamazoo’s pioneers. While Kalamazoo’s earliest settlers were New England Yankees, the French presence remained. A French priest, Father De Seille, offered the first Catholic mass in 1832 in the home of Dennis Talbot. Father Anthony Label, a French Canadian, became Kalamazoo’s first Catholic pastor in 1855. As late as 1870, the U. S. Census reported 59 county residents who had been born in France. Although the number of French-born residents declined over the next century, in the 2000 Census, nearly 12,000 people indicated they had French or French Canadian ancestry. Kalamazoo’s Polish community dates to the late 19th century. Census figures show that 22 persons born in Poland lived in Kalamazoo County in 1900. That number grew rapidly. There were 406 Poles recorded in the 1920 census and the number reached nearly 1,600 by 1960. The Poles who came to Kalamazoo County often worked in the paper industry. Many were recruited from Chicago and elsewhere to work at Vicksburg’s Lee Paper Co. after it opened in 1905. A Catholic parish was organized there to serve their religious needs. Early census numbers more readily reflect place of birth rather than ethnicity. The Polish community was certainly larger than the number of residents born in Poland—large enough, in fact, that in 1960 there was a Kalamazoo chapter of the Polish American Congress. Today, more than 12,000 area residents claim Polish heritage. The Italian community dates to the early 20th century. These early Italians also took jobs in the paper industry. Their numbers grew more slowly than the Poles but they were sufficient to allow for the establishment of the St. Joseph Italian American Society in 1959. For about five years, this organization maintained a social hall on East Kilgore Road. In the 1980s, Italian-Americans organized a local lodge of the Order of the Sons of Italy, the Loggia Della Communita No. 2625. Just before World War II, there were 145 Italian-born residents of Kalamazoo County and that number increased to nearly 700 10 years later. By 2000, there were nearly 7,900 residents of Italian descent in the county. More recently, Kalamazoo’s population has been diversified by the growth of an Asian-American community. A century ago, the census recorded only two Chinese-born residents of Kalamazoo, the only Asians in the county. In 1940, there were only 10 Asian-born residents. That number jumped to 232 by 1950 in the aftermath of World War II and has continued to grow. Today there are about 4,400 Asian Americans with Indians and Chinese the largest populations. The French, Poles, Italians, and Asians are representative of the many other ethnic groups that have become the fabric of our community. Arabs, Czechs, Danes, Hungarians, Norwegians, Russians, Scots, Swedes, and Welsh are also part of the diversity of the region. All have made their own particular contributions to the richness of life in Kalamazoo County. When the first settlers arrived in 1829-30, most were Yankees settling amidst a large native population with a scattering of French fur traders. Over the succeeding two centuries, the area has been enriched by people who trace their ancestry to every continent on the globe. To them, we owe the diverse and prosperous community that is ours today. www.kalamazoomuseum.org

A PERSPECTIVE ON MEXICAN-AMERICAN LIFE AS IT IS EXPERIENCED IN SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN IS REMAINING AT THE KALAMAZOO VALLEY MUSEUM AS PART OF THE LATEST NATIONALLY TOURING EXHIBITION, “CHILDREN JUST LIKE ME.” “Tesoros/Treasures” an exhibition of photographs, poetry, and essays compiled both by professionals and by Bangor-area students, was created as a complement to “In My Family/En mi familia” that closed its three-month run on Sept. 6. In conjunction with the Saturday, Sept. 25, opening of “Children Just Like Me,” the museum will premier a planetarium show, “Abuelo’s Stories for the Seasons,” that uses the seasons as a metaphor for life. Elspeth Inglis, the museum’s assistant director for program services, said the museum had been in the market for a Mexican-American project for the planetarium similar to locally produced shows that involved Native Americans (“Sky Legends of the Three Fires”) and African Americans (“Secrets in the Sky” that was linked to the Underground Railroad). The pieces began to fall into place when the museum became involved with a Western Michigan University initiative funded by a U. S. Department of Education GEARUP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) grant designed to prepare low-income elementary and secondary students for higher “Liliana,” a photograph by Mary Whalen, celebrates a education and to better train teachers for that milestone in a young girl’s life. population. “We were looking for a setting that was similar to what we did with Kalamazoo’s Woodward School for Science, Technology and Research when its students helped update a planetarium show designed for young children,” she said. “It was a project they took to heart and learned much from.” The perfect fit for both WMU’s GEARUP program and the museum was the Bangor Public Schools and the Bangor Community Education Center with their populations of Mexican Americans who are both full-time residents and migrant workers in Van Buren County. During the academic year, nearly 30 high school students and 15 adults enrolled in community-education classes took part in the museum’s phase. The adults ranged in age from the early 20s to people in their 70s. Through a variety of media, Inglis said, “we wanted to show the value of a cultural history, that there was great value to the stories they could tell about their experiences. All these personal and traditional stories were also incorporated into the planetarium show with the Mexican-American theme.” 6

Museography

As part of the procedure, the students learned how to conduct interviews and tested those skills on the adults who were involved with the project. While professional writers, artists and photographers were hired to shepherd the process and move it along, students took photos and wrote poetry and essays to complement their photography.

Project participants in the fall 2003 class (above) and the spring 2003 class (right).

Among those “in residence” were Julie Rybicki, Mary Whalen, Ike Vasquez, Larry Plamondon (who was part of the Native American project), Robert de los Santos and John Fraire. Fraire, director of admissions at WMU and a playwright, also guides New Latino Visions Theater Company on campus. That troupe, along with some of the Bangor students, provided the cast for the planetarium show. The storyline links the seasons of the year and the seasons of life’s passages that are part of Mexican-American heritage. What the Bangor students created from their interviewing, writing, photography and art first supplemented the MexicanAmerican experience of “In My Family/En mi familia” that has a Texas flavor. Also on display are some of Whalen’s photographs that capture the Mexican-American culture. One series focuses on the celebration of a young woman’s 15th birthday, which is a major event in a family. Preparing for a quinceañera can be an entire year in the making for a Mexican-American family. The planetarium show associated with the project is a mix of contemporary scientific views about stars, galaxies and other celestial bodies, Aztec legends, and the cultural ramifications of storytelling across generations. The storyline revolves around two Hispanic youths who are exposed to a grandfather’s (abuelo) favorite memories from the seasons of his life. For example, after one of the teens provides a scientific explanation of spring, the grandfather tells of his personal springtime, specifically when he crossed the border and headed north to live in Michigan. A tale about a softball player leads to “the baseball diamonds” that can be seen in the night sky. Similar connections are made to each season. The show contrasts traditional and scientific explanations, reflecting both the differences in the generations, and the value of storytelling as a way of placing people in the continuum of life, family, and society. Joining the New Latino Visions Theater Company and the Bangor students in the production are the music group Los Bandits and de los Santos’ artistic expressions. Funding was provided by both the GEARUP grant and the Michigan Council for Arts and “Mi consuelo” was created by Baudelia Aleman, mother, grand- Cultural Affairs. After the Sept. 25 premier, the planetarium show will be run for public mother, great-grandmother and viewings on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 4 p.m. continuing-education student.

www.kalamazoomuseum.org

Museography 1: A span dog. It was used to grapple timbers after felling trees. This particular hand-forged hook came from a span dog used to clear trees from the Butler farm near Pine Creek in Otsego Township around 1865. 2: An apple butter paddle. The sweet taste of apple butter was a favorite among Americans from the time of the earliest settlements through the 19th century. Chopped apples, cider, sugar, and spices were cooked slowly in copper kettles and stirred with a large wooden paddle until it thickened. It was stored in crocks and jars and served on bread or

8 crackers. Today, the making of apple butter is practiced at festivals and by individuals interested in carrying on this early American tradition. 3: A polygraph set (or lie detector). Instruments to detect deceptive behavior have been in use since the 1890s. They led to the development of the modern polygraph in the 1920s. This Stoeling model, made in Chicago in the 1950s, was used by an independent polygraph examiner who contracted with the Kalamazoo Police Department and private companies in the 1960s.

This was used to make a delectable spread.*

After you guess, turn to page 24 to see #1 and #2 in their full configuration as tools.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of a pair of sharp hooks attached to the end of a chain and used by settlers preparing new land.*

Respiration, blood pressure, and the propensity to sweat were measured with the machine below.*

Make some guesses about these objects from the KVM collection. How old do you think they are? What were they used for? (Answers at the bottom of the page.)

CO M I N G TO T H E K A L A M A ZO O VA L L EY M U S E U M J A N UA RY 2 0 0 5

See How The Civil War Was Fought... In Your Own Backyard Produced by Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal

he buildup to the Civil War, the four years of carnage, and its legacy that still impacts on American society today are the themes of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s first nationally touring exhibition in 2005. “Liberty on the Border: A Civil War Exhibit” opens on Jan. 29 and will be on display through May 30. The creation of the Cincinnati Museum Center, “Liberty on the Border” is packaged into three time frames: “Liberty Denied,” which chronicles the decades and events leading up to Fort Sumter; “Liberty’s Trial” examines how the concept of liberty was re-defined in the crucible of war; and “Liberty’s Legacy,” a look at how prejudice and segregation after the war led to the modern Civil Rights movement. What sets this apart from other Civil War exhibitions is that “Liberty on the Border” examines the concepts of borders—physical, cultural and ideological. It explores how these different “borders” changed in the 1840s and 1850s, through the war years, and at various points leading up to the present. These “borders” were tied to how individuals and local, state and federal governments viewed the concept of “liberty,” especially in regard to the development and enforcement of “borders.” The exhibition will feature photographs, documents, artifacts, hands-on activities and audio-visual components. The exhibit explores how conflicting concepts of liberty led Americans to contest those competing ideas in the bloodiest war in our history and how its legacy shapes the continuing struggle to achieve liberty and equality today.

www.kalamazoomuseum.org

he Kalamazoo Valley Museum is seeking Civil War artifacts and mementos linked to Kalamazoo and Southwest Michigan. The museum is supplementing Liberty on the Border: A Civil War Exhibit with regional content that explores how the struggle over liberty affected Southwest Michigan. “We would consider borrowing uniforms, equipment, flags, weapons, photographs or documents from the Civil War and the preceding two decades. We are also interested in items that reflect race relations and the Civil Rights movement in Southwest Michigan,” said Tom Dietz, curator of regional history. Any such material should have a regional connection. “We want more than battlefield relics or military equipment. Items associated with post-war veterans organizations, such as the Grand Army of the Republic, or that reflect the efforts of civilians on the home front during the war are also of interest. For example, Kalamazoo women organized a Sanitary Fair in 1864 to raise money to provide care for wounded soldiers and we would be very interested in items associated with that.” Liberty on the Border: A Civil War Exhibit explores both the issues that led to the war and its continuing impact on American society. Items from Southwest Michigan associated with the issue of slavery (either pro or con), the Underground Railroad, the abolitionist Liberty Party, and the Republican Party are desired. Similarly artifacts or documents that illustrate civil rights in the region during the 140 years since the end of the war are also of interest. Dietz notes that while the local exhibit will include Abraham Lincoln’s 1856 visit to Kalamazoo, it will also explore the activities of lesser known individuals from the region who played key roles in the struggle to define liberty. “While we are looking to borrow artifacts for the exhibit, we always are interested in adding such materials to our collections if people are looking for a good permanent home for their keepsake items,” Dietz added. He can be reached at 269/373-7984.

Off to the Races! K

alamazoo’s first organized sport was horse racing. In 1838, Nathaniel Holman and others charted a one-mile course bounded by Lovell, Park, Burr Oak, and John streets. Other than a single mention in the 1880 History of Kalamazoo County, little more is known of this venture. The same year, a more prominent group, including Charles Stuart and Justus Burdick, organized the Kalamazoo Jockey Club. Together with Dr. Sylvester Axtell, they built a half-mile track known as the Axtell or Burr Oak Track, that hosted harness racing for the next 20 years. It was located south of Vine Street and west of Westnedge Avenue. By the 1850s, its generous purses attracted such well-known steeds as Flora Temple, perhaps the most famous horse of her day. Horse racing was enormously popular. The 1880 county history reported “the godless business flourished for a number of years …” and that in 1858 racing supporters decided to build a larger facility. They organized the National Horse Association of Kalamazoo, also known as the Kalamazoo Town Agricultural Society for Improving the Breed of Horses. They purchased land between Portage, Stockbridge, Cameron, and Reed streets where they built the National Driving Park. Bush & Patterson built the grandstands. The most famous race at the new track was run Oct. 15, 1859. The renowned Flora Temple became the first trotter to race one mile in less than 2 minutes and 20 seconds, a mark that was considered unbreakable. The Detroit Free Press, on Oct. 21, 1859, described the event: “At dawn on the day of the race, great crowds began to pour into town afoot, by horseback and wagon. Railroad trains brought load after load. During the forenoon, throngs on the road passed without cessation and besieged the gate for admission. The stand, which holds three thousand people, was filled two hours before the race.” In the final of the three heats of the race, with a late burst of speed, Flora Temple crossed the finish line with a time of 2:19¾, a world record. Eastern sportsmen, however, doubted that the unbreakable 2:20 mark could fall in a small village in Southwest Michigan. National Driving Park, they claimed, was not really a mile. That would negate the record. So in the summer of 1860, a team of railroad surveyors measured the track. It was not a mile. In fact, it was more than 2½ feet longer than a mile. Flora Temple’s record stood. Top: a view of the home stretch during the Grand The National Driving Park hosted horse races until about 1886. It also was Circuit Race in Kalamazoo, c. 1910. Above: the site of the Michigan State Fair in 1871 and 1872, a Sanitary Fair (to raise Official Programme, National Circuit Races at money for medical care for Union soldiers during the Civil War), and the National Driving Park, c. 1880. 10

Museography

Kalamazoo County Agricultural Fair. The grounds were eventually sold to a group of investors, including Francis B. Stockbridge, Lorenzo Egleston, and Charles B. Hays, who developed it as a residential neighborhood around 1900. It would not be long before Kalamazoo boasted yet another race track. In 1902, a group of prominent businessmen organized the Recreation Park Association and built Recreation Park on what is now the Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds. The first races were held there in 1903. In 1908 it hosted the Grand Circuit, the premier harness racing circuit of the early 20th century. Annual meets were held there until 1931. The real force behind the success of Recreation Park was William “Big Bill” Engelman, a gruff man with a heart of gold and the imagination of a true promoter. Engelman saved Grand Circuit racing in Kalamazoo. The summer of 1908 was exceptionally hot and dry. When race week came, the track had baked so hard the owners refused to run their horses for fear of injury. Engelman could think of no solution but, as he walked the grounds, he ran into Edward F. “Pop” Geers, one of the great riders of the day. Geers told him to get every sprinkling truck in town. Engelman arranged for seven horse-drawn sprinkling wagons to soak the track day and night. On race day, the track was in perfect condition. Kalamazoo’s spot in the Grand Circuit was secured. Engelman’s promotional skills were key to Recreation Park and the Grand Circuit’s success. He posted billboards everywhere and placed stories and ads in every small-town newspaper in the region. Curiously, his greatest promotion did not involve horse racing. Rather, it occurred during the 1911 Interstate Fair, an event at Recreation Park that Engelman staged from 1910-1912. To insure a huge turnout, Engelman purchased two junk locomotives and built rails in the center of the track. After aggressively advertising the “great train wreck,” the event drew a crowd so large that the police struggled to control it. On the fair’s opening day, the locomotives were fired up, dynamite caps mounted on the front of each, and, at the drop of Engelman’s hat, chugged toward each other. The ensuing crackup thrilled the huge crowd. Despite Engelman’s advertising genius, interest in horse racing waned during the Great Depression and, after a 24year run, Grand Circuit races in Kalamazoo ended in 1931. Efforts to revive it failed. Most of the land was donated to the county for the Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds. While world-class horses no longer run in Kalamazoo, Gold Circuit harness racing is still featured yearly at the Kalamazoo County Fair. Enthusiasm for the sport put the Top: Daily Official Racing Program of the Grand Circuit Races, 1914. city on the national map and made a day at the races one Above right: Programme for the National Circuit Races, National of its most popular attractions. Driving Park, 1884. Above: Big Bill Engleman (driving) promotes the big train wreck at the Interstate Fair, 1911.

www.kalamazoomuseum.org

hen George and Emma Sophia (Read) Humphrey left their native England in 1870, they surely were unaware how significantly their family would contribute to Kalamazoo’s economic development. In fact, their original destination was not even the United States but Ontario, Canada. Nearly two decades would pass before they arrived in Kalamazoo and then only after stays in Ypsilanti and in the St. Joseph County village of Mendon. In 1886, George Humphrey and two of his four sons, Frederick and Charles, came to Kalamazoo and organized the Humphrey Manufacturing and Plating Co. to make scales. Within a few years, sons Herbert and Alfred joined the firm. Three of George’s sons were inventors whose products formed the basis of several companies with local and global reach. Herbert S. Humphrey was a photographer, first in Cleveland and later in Kalamazoo with the studio of Ford & Humphrey. In the The Humphrey brothers, c. 1895: from left to 1890s, photographs were burnished using gas-heated rollers. These rollright, Herbert, Alfred, Frederick, and Charles. ers inspired Herbert, who joined Humphrey Manufacturing in 1894, to develop a quick-working, hot-water heater. He bought that product from his father and brothers in 1899, and began the Humphrey Water Heater Co. The instantaneous hot-water heater was a wall-mounted device that quickly heated cold tap water for a relaxing warm bath. Herbert sold the company to Ruud Manufacturing in 1913, which continued to manufacture the heaters for several more decades. In 1904, Frederick J. Humphrey invented a simple water pump—he called it a “water lift”—that was a practical means for pumping water into houses. Kalamazoo had indoor plumbing but, like today, people complained of the “hard” water and many homes had cisterns to collect “soft” rain water for laundry. Frederick sold his invention to his partner, Roland Fairchild, in 1909. Fairchild re-organized the company and re-named it National Water Lift Co. He re-designed the pump and the company grew and prospered. Over the years its product line changed. Now known as Parker Abex NWL, the firm is still in Kalamazoo. Alfred H. Humphrey would have the most impact on Kalamazoo over the long term. While working with his father and brothers, he invented a new type of gas arc lamp that burned brighter and more efficiently than traditional gas lights. In 1901, he organized the General Gas Light Co. The enterprise grew rapidly and acquired a large factory on the northeast corner of Park and Water streets. 12

Museography

The new light became quite popular as a convenient source for home, factory, and street lighting. In fact, the company still sold gas lights in rural locations up until the sale of the product line in 1994. By 1918, however, serious problems had developed and the company experienced a large drop in sales. As electricity became more reliable, Thomas Edison’s incandescent light gained popularity and the gas-light industry declined. Shortages of labor and materials during World War I simply added to the company’s travails. It was obvious that the company needed a new product to survive and once again Alfred Humphrey’s imagination provided the solution. This time, instead of improving home lighting, Alfred channeled his talents toward the challenges of home heating. The Radiantfire gas heater was a fireplace insert that provided comfortable heat without the dust and dirt of wood and coal, the only two sources for reliable heat at the time. Easily maintained and operated, the units created a warm glow that filled a living room or study and the device quickly became a success. By 1930 sales of Radiantfires approached 150,000 per year. The General Gas Light Co. thrived and prosThe Radiantfire gas unit provided clean warmth and comfort to any pered; its factory covered two square blocks in downtown home. Below right, the company’s showroom, c. 1925. Kalamazoo and employed nearly 600 people. Alfred’s son, Hubert, also had an inventive streak. He not only refined the Radiantfire but he designed an overhead space heater that was popular with factories and retail clients because of the floor space it saved. Along with this invention came others, such as the Humphrey Rotisserie oven, gas irons and clothing presses, outdoor grills, and more. During World War II, the company switched to wartime production. Its products included precision gun sights for airplanes and bilge pumps for ships. After the war, the company developed other applications for gas lanterns and heating equipment, particularly for the camping, hunting, and recreational-vehicle industries. Hubert Humphrey remained as company president until his death in 1946 and the Radiantfire remained popular. Still the fireplace heater was seasonal—the company was busy from July to October as people prepared for winter. Business was much quieter the rest of the year, and the company continued looking for new products. In the 1950s, General Gas Light sold its gasheating operations and moved into the pneu- The General Gas Light showroom, 1920. matic industry. The name changed to Humphrey Products and, in 1960, the company moved to a new factory at Sprinkle and Kilgore roads, where it still operates today as a world-class manufacturer of fluid controls and engineered solutions for specialty customers and target markets. The Humphrey family still plays a major role in the company. Alfred Humphrey’s great-grandson, Robert Humphrey, Jr., is the current president of Humphrey Products that also operates South Haven Coil Co. and Concept Manufacturing in Plainwell. They are testimony to the contributions of a single family that, over four generations, has remained committed to Kalamazoo. www.kalamazoomuseum.org

Mary Pengelly

Kalamazoo’s Milestone Activist

ary E. Pengelly is one of the lesser known “milestone women” in Kalamazoo history. The leader of the local Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), a crusader for women’s rights, and a social reformer, she was also, in 1901, the first woman to vote in a local election. This tireless activist was born in Palmyra, N. Y., on Nov. 14, 1825. Her father, the Rev. Elisha House, was a Methodist minister who brought the family to Paw Paw in 1843. Four years later she married Dr. Richard Pengelly, a Methodist minister who later became a physician. After serving in several Michigan churches, the Pengellys settled in Kalamazoo in the early 1880s with a daughter and an adopted son. Richard Pengelly is perhaps best known as the originator of a celery-based elixir, Zoath Phora, a typical 19 -century patent medicine. Paradoxically, this “medicine,” advertised as “a woman’s friend,” had a high alcohol content and was sold in bottles resembling pint whiskey flasks. Above, Mary Pengelly, c. 1855. Mary Pengelly orga- Below, Temperance cartoon, c. 1910. nized the Kalamazoo chapter of the WCTU, the leading organization pushing for the prohibition of alcoholic beverages. She served as the local president for many years, setting its agenda, and involving herself deeply in its activities. Convinced that alcohol was the “arch enemy of home and heaven,” the local WCTU held a weekly Sunday school to “instill in the minds of children the evil effects of stimulants and narcotics on the human system.” To promote the cause, the chapter solicited temperance pledges, distributed pamphlets, and supported the effort to enact temperance in Michigan with a referendum in 1910. Although that effort failed, a similar effort in 1915 succeeded. Mary Pengelly represented the local chapter at national WCTU conventions several times. The chapter also raised the funds to purchase a house on Woodward Avenue to serve as its Kalamazoo headquarters. In recognition of her dedicated service, the local chapter was named in her honor.

“[A woman] has no representation in the government… Where is the justice here?”

Museography

Mary Pengelly was not merely a temperance advocate. She opposed not only saloons but gambling houses, “those gilded palaces of death that captivate our boys and girls.” She served three years on the Kalamazoo Board of Education. She successfully encouraged the Michigan Senate to pass legislation prohibiting minors from smoking. To protect women’s virtue, Pengelly lobbied the state legislature against the legalization of prostitution. She went into saloons to rescue young women from alcohol’s “dreadful grasp and send them home to anxious mothers.” With her WCTU coworkers, she visited prisons throughout the state to bring the Bible and good influence to the inmates. Equally significant, Pengelly was a strong advocate for women’s rights. She was not only a proponent of women’s suffrage but, having received a tax assessment on her property for the installation of sidewalks, she shocked public officials by casting an “illegal” vote at a special election in June 1900. That election established a board of public works and was open to city taxpayers. Mayor Alfred J. Mills said that he personally believed women taxpayers should be allowed to vote but that “constitutional and statutory laws prohibited them from doing so.” Mayor Mills failed to respond to Pengelly’s challenge to provide legal evidence for his position. So, on April 1, 1901, she again went to the polls for a city election. She voted for Above right: Temperance cartoon, c. 1910. the two bonding issues (one for the city hall and the other a Below: Pengelly postcard, c. 1909 river-improvement amendment), and not for the mayor and aldermen. A special box was set up into which she deposited her vote. She thereby became the first woman to vote at a regular election in the city of Kalamazoo. Reminiscent of the early-American demand for “no taxation without representation,” she wrote, “[A woman] has no representation in the government, yet government demands taxes on her property equal to man, and although she may have earned every cent of her property by hard toil, yet she has no voice whatever in the appropriation of those taxes. Where is the justice here?” Nor would she be satisfied with merely obtaining the legal right for women to cast a ballot in elections. She was committed to full equality in all aspects of life. In words that sound as if they were written today, Pengelly noted, “I also fail to see the justice or the common sense of woman receiving one-half or two-thirds pay for doing just the same work in the same time and equally as well as man.” After a lifetime of working to improve her community, Mary Pengelly died on Jan. 14, 1911, at the age of 85. She is buried with her husband at Mountain Home Cemetery. The Pengelly home still stands on Elm Street in the Stuart Historic Neighborhood. Kalamazoo Valley Museum curator Tom Dietz, and his wife, Sharon Carlson, director of the WMU Archives, are in the midst of a multi-year effort to restore the home.

www.kalamazoomuseum.org

The Arcadia Festival Site

From Enterprise to Entertainment

his summer, many festival-goers enjoyed the beautiful new Arcadia Festival Site in downtown Kalamazoo. With its attractive park-like landscaping and entertainment facilities, it is difficult to imagine a time when this spot was in the heart of Kalamazoo’s industrial district. Today’s festival site occupies most of the block bounded by Kalamazoo Avenue, Edwards Street, Water Street, and Burdick Street, and the north Burdick Mall. Before the recent facelift, the site had been a parking lot for more than 30 years. All that asphalt, however, hid a past when the sounds of metal working, the whine of wood saws, and the shouts of workers filled the air. Stepping back a century, to the years between 1890 and 1910, a scene far different presents itself. Starting at the railroad siding (or sidetrack) that once crossed Kalamazoo Avenue at Edwards Street and walking west toward Burdick Street in 1890, the lumberyards and manufacturing facilities of Bush & Patterson, the most important 19th-century building contractors in town, occupied nearly the entire block. Established by Frederick Bush and Thomas Patterson in 1856, the firm built many important public and commercial structures in Kalamazoo, some of which are still in use today. The Lawrence & Chapin Foundry (National City Bank), the Ladies Library Association, and the Michigan Central Railroad Depot (today’s Amtrak station) are all Bush and Patterson projects. Frederick Bush was a “mover and shaker” in the community. Besides construction work, Bush & Patterson manufactured doors, sashes, blinds, and other lumber products. Bush was also the first president of the Kalamazoo Electric Company. He promoted the organization of the first (horse-drawn) railways, built the Kalamazoo and Hastings Railroad, served two terms as a village trustee, and, at Entrepeneur Frederick Bush, c. 1880. the time of his death in 1892, was the mayor of Kalamazoo. At right, the Lawrence & Chapin Foundry building on Rose Street was Immediately west of Bush & Patterson were the offices and one of Bush’s construction projects factory of the Smith & Pomeroy Windmill Company. The firm was through the firm of Bush & Patterson. Below, IXL windmills made Kalamazoo in business from 1881 through the early 20th century. Its offices famous as “The Windmill City.” faced Burdick with the windmill factory in the rear. Farther south was a factory occupied in 1891 by the Michigan Buggy Company and later by the L. J. Everett Furnace factory. It was a small building that saw frequent changes of occupants. Still farther south was the Phelps & Bigelow windmill factory. Founded in 1873, Phelps and Bigelow fronted on Burdick Street but their workshops and yards extended back into the current festival site.

Museography

Phelps & Bigelow’s IXL windmill helped make Kalamazoo “The Windmill City.” The Kalamazoo Galvanizing Company, located on the western part of the current festival site, provided galvanized steel for both windmill manufacturers. At Water Street, Dickinson Hardware faced Burdick Street. Behind the store, fronting on Water Street, John Sutton’s Veterinary Hospital shared space with Joel Waterbury’s Livery in a building that also housed the Newton Carriage Company. Several blacksmiths were in residence between the livery and the Hicks Carriage Company, which had just taken over the Kalamazoo Cart Company’s shop at the corner of Edwards and Water streets. To the north, just across the Arcadia Creek (which now ran partly underground) was the Harrow Spring Company, an agricultural implement manufacturer. A railroad siding marked the boundary between Harrow Spring and the Bush & Patterson property. Over the next two decades, businesses changed and new firms opened but the area remained industrial. Walking the same circuit in 1908 would have revealed that Bush & Patterson still owned its property but it was mostly a lumber storage yard following the retirement of Thomas Patterson, the surviving partner. Smith & Pomeroy, as well as Phelps & Bigelow, continued to manufacture windmills but The former Kalamazoo Paper Box Company occupied land that is now the newly remodeled Arcadia Festival site (map the peak years for that industry had passed. and photo below). At Water Street, the Dickinson Hardware store stood vacant. The Newton Carriage Company had folded and William Mershon’s Feed Store had replaced the veterinary hospital, sharing space in the building with Waterbury’s Livery. Farther east, while one or two blacksmiths remained, a new factory housed the Kalamazoo Playing Card Company. The former Hicks Carriage Company shop at Water and Edwards streets was now home to the Kalamazoo Paper Box Company. The latter two new businesses, both making paper products, reflected the emergence of the industry that would gain Kalamazoo fame as “The Paper City.” The Harrow Spring Company had moved to newer facilities on East Vine Street. A new business, however, had opened

on part of the Bush & Patterson property. There, Hartney Bennett manufactured cigar vending machines, peanut roasters, and novelties. The character of the Arcadia Festival Site has changed dramatically over the last century. The clang and clatter of lumberyards, windmill factories, and carriage shops has given way to the sounds of crowds and music. Yet the site plays an equally important role in the life of the city. Entertainment, as well as enterprise, is part of the economy. The Arcadia Festival Site continues to contribute, in its own way, to the vitality and prosperity of Kalamazoo. www.kalamazoomuseum.org

HIDDEN TREASURE

The Diary of Emeline Rowe

very day I find myself digging for clues to solve puzzles—historical puzzles. Officially I guess you might call it ”doing research,” but it can be surprisingly exhilarating! A little puzzle came up recently. I was looking through the museum’s collection of diaries and found a handmade journal that had not been read by anyone here as far as I could tell. The first page was inscribed as the “Journal of self & home matters. Kept by Emeline Rowe, Manlius 1844.” Manlius is near Syracuse, N.Y., so I wondered “What was this diary doing so far away from its origins? And who was Emeline Rowe?” I was determined to find out. I kept reading. Emeline turned out to be a young, unmarried woman living in rural New York. She led a simple life, was rather sickly, and wrote at length of her devotion to God. She also wrote of the “monotony of a farmer’s life” and her perpetual loneliness. She was, however, well schooled and employed as a teacher in neighboring communities. Her free time was immersed in attending church and special religious meetings. Then, out of the blue, in April 1850, Emeline wrote that she, her sisters, and extended family were “making preparations to move soon as possible.” After three weeks of rushed packing she writes that “we must leave our dear cottage home for one in the far west—mournful thought.” And so they began their journey—but where were they going? The family took the best transportation of the day: a train to “Buffalow” where they boarded a steamboat to the Port of Detroit. Of the three-day boat trip, Emeline writes that the ride was “smooth… but I very soon found that my destiny would be to be up on the shelf until the boat came into port again. Some others very seasick but recovered sooner than myself.” Once on land at Detroit, she marvels at the city, writing that “we had quite a ride Emeline Rowe’s diary, 1844-1850. Emeline is pictured above right, through the City… It is very level and quite a pleasant location. The place seemed to be very in 1850. enterprising [and] certainly presented a business aspect for such an early hour.” But the stagecoach ride later that day from Jackson to Mason (in Ingham County) caused her the most distress…“Oh dear I wonder that we came that 25 miles without being almost lifeless to say nothing of the jolting and squeezing. Intemperance was the occasion of some anxiety & fear. Our driver stopped to take his fiery poison at every tavern & he got enough down to make him quarrel with his horses. At last we got to Mason without broken bones.” Her final leg of the trip was by ox cart to the farm of Allen and Elizabeth Rowe, her brother and sister-in-law. Here Emeline writes, “We started from Syracuse Wednesday & Saturday night [we] were here sleeping again on downy beds once more… such rappid [sic] traveling was not dreamed of 100 years ago.” One can only imagine what Emeline would think of the speed of the planes, trains, and automobiles of today! Ten weeks later her diary comes to an abrupt end, but not my search for Emeline. After further digging in census records and newspapers I discovered that Emeline married Gustavus A. Morgan and moved to Otsego, Mich., around 1860. Gustavus worked as a lawyer and eventually became the publisher and editor of Otsego’s The Weekly Union. They had one son, Edwin. Emeline, in ill-health since her youth, died in 1876 at age 53. The puzzle is solved. Because Emmeline ended up here, so did the diary. Today the diary is fully transcribed and provides a glimpse of one woman’s life and her experience of migration to and settlement in the Michigan wilderness. —Paula L. Metzner, Assistant Director for Collections 18

Museography

Calendar of Events The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is located at 230 N. Rose St. in downtown Kalamazoo. FREE GENERAL ADMISSION—OPEN DAILY (Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve & Christmas Day) HOURS: Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday and Holidays from 1 to 5 p.m.

SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS

planetarium show, Abuelo’s Stories for the Seasons (see planetarium listings next page)

JAM SESSION

Free Admission

Listen to K’zoo Folklife Organization music on the first Sunday of every month.

Oct. 3, Nov. 7, Dec. 5, Jan. 2; 2–5 p.m.

COMING TOGETHER

Saturday, Sept. 25, 1– 4 p.m.

Sept.25, 2004 – Jan. 9, 2005 Based on DK Publishing’s award-winning book, this interactive exhibit invites you to take a trip around the world to meet 11 children on six continents. Each child’s language, food, games, music, pets, clothing and much more can be discovered through activities. The exhibit encourages exploration of the unique diversity of the world’s children while also studying the common bonds we all share. Free Admission A traveling exhibit organized by the Cincinnati Museum Center. Children Just Like Me™ is a publication of DK Publishing. ©1995. Used with permission.

TREASURES/TESOROS

Through Jan. 9, 2005

In 2003 Bangor High School and the Bangor Community Education Center, Western Michigan University, and the museum participated in an oral-history project to capture the stories of Mexicans who have come to Southwest Michigan to work. Teens and adults worked with artists-in-residence to produce photographs and writings seen in this exhibit. Their work is also featured in the new

www.kalamazoomuseum.org

COMING JANUARY 2005 LIBERTY ON THE BORDER Jan. 29 – May 30, 2005

Learn about the Civil War in a new way, not only about the very real physical border that separated slave states from free states, but also the wide spectrum of attitudes of people in those areas. Artifacts, original documents, photographs, dioramas, and hands-on activities tell the many stories of the war. Free Admission A traveling exhibit organized by the Cincinnati Museum Center

FEATURED PROGRAMS AND EVENTS

Join us for Saturday hands-on programs and other special events—our new theater section of this calendar lists programs of special interest to adults. B indicates programs that include Brownie Try-Its. All programs are FREE unless otherwise noted. See the back cover of this issue for our special series of holiday programs, “The Great World Tour,” offered at the end of December.

Celebrate the opening of Children Just Like Me and the new planetarium show Abuelo’s Stories for the Seasons with the irresistible music of Los Bandits, special guests, craft activities, demonstrations, movies, and more.

INTERNATIONAL KITE FEST Saturday, Oct. 2, 1–4 p.m.

The sky’s the limit as we explore kites from around the world. Learn how kites have been used to learn about electricity, celebrate the New Year, and to help fight wars.

4TH & 6TH ROCKS FROM THE SUN SATURDAY Oct. 2, 2–4 p.m. Co-sponsored by State Sen. Tom George

Fourth Rock: Mars Rover Update Find out what the rovers have been up to exploring the surface of Mars. A full-sized Mars rover model will be on view from the University of Michigan Mars Rover team.

Sixth Rock: Cassini-Huygens Mission This mission’s probe arrived at Saturn in June 2004. After safely navigating through Saturn’s ring system, the probe will orbit the planet for four years, exploring its rings and surface. Come learn the latest about this program.

HATS OFF!

Saturday, Oct.16, 1–4 p.m. Create headgear from sombreros to baseball caps in this world tour of hats!

INTO DARKNESS… TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE MOON Wednesday, Oct. 27, 8–10:30 p.m.

The full moon begins slipping into Earth’s shadow at 9:14 p.m. EDT, and is fully immersed at 10:23. Following a brief explanation of eclipses, move outside where telescopes will allow viewing of the first stages of this total lunar eclipse (weather permitting). Next viewing in Kalamazoo will occur in February, 2008!

SAFE HALLOWEEN B

PLANETARIUM

Saturday, Oct. 30, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Goblins, adventure and art! Create art you can wear, visit the haunted house, and see Nightwalk in the Planetarium. Wear your costume and go trick-or-treating downtown. Brownie scouts can earn their Art to Wear Try-it.

CHEMISTRY DAY

Saturday, Nov. 6, 12–4 p.m.

The 19th annual Chemistry Day starts right after the Holiday Parade. Chemists from the community demonstrate yearly favorites in addition to activities related to this year’s health and wellness theme!

Experience a journey into space like never before. State-of-the-art technology provides spectacular sights and sounds to guide your imagination to locations and events throughout our amazing universe. All programs $3/person.

IN MY BACKYARD

Saturday & Sunday; 1:30 p.m. Sept. 4–Nov. 21

Fred Penner leads an exploration of nature from his backyard. Discover wildlife, weather, the seasons, and the night sky as they can be seen from your own backyard.

NEW! ABUELO’S STORIES FOR THE SEASONS

PAPER PARADE B

Saturday, Nov. 20, 1–4 p.m. Travel around the world discovering many different kinds of paper. Create holiday decorations from rice paper, solar paper, and papyrus. Brownies may earn their Number and Shapes Try-it.

THANKSGIVING SMORGASBORD

Friday & Saturday, Nov. 26 & 27; 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

Fly a mission, watch a planetarium show, see science and history demonstrations, and enjoy the exhibits.

HUYGENS SPACE PROBE Thursday, Dec. 23, 3 p.m.

On Christmas Eve a probe released from the Cassini Mission will descend through the clouds of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Visit the museum for background information and to learn what resources are available so that you can follow the progress of this event from your own home.

Wed., Sat. & Sun.; 4 p.m. Sept. 25–Jan. 2

As the tilted Earth orbits the sun, we experience changing seasons. For each of the seasons Linda and Oscar’s abuelo (grandfather) shares a favorite memory from the seasons of his life. This program features the talents of New Latino Visions Theater Company, Los Bandits, and students from Bangor High School. Funding provided by MERC-Gear-Up and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

SEASON OF LIGHT

Saturday & Sunday; 1:30 p.m. Nov. 27–Jan. 2

Discover the origins of some holiday traditions and explore events that may account for the Magis’ star.

Museography

THEMED BIRTHDAY PARTIES

Mary Jane Stryker THEATER SUNDAY HISTORY SERIES Curator Tom Dietz continues this series exploring the settlement and early history of Kalamazoo County’s 16 townships, as well as other events and groups within our local community. Free

THE TOWNSHIPS OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY: CLIMAX Sept. 19; 1:30–2:30 p.m.

Taking its name from the prairie that early pioneers described as the climax of all they had seen in their journey west, Climax Township was organized in 1838.

KALAMAZOO’S 19TH CENTURY JEWISH COMMUNITY Oct. 3; 1:30–2:30 p.m.

Have your next birthday party at the KVM! Four different parties offer something for any age group, 3 and up. Cost is $10 per child. • Preschool Parties (for ages 3 – 5) • Planetarium Party (ideal for young children, ages 5 – 8) • Challenger Birthday Blast-Off! (for ages 10 and up) • Birthday Space Adventure (for ages 8 & 9) For more information on any of the programs, call 269/373-7965 or visit www.kalamazoomuseum.org.

PRESCHOOL PERFORMANCE SERIES Thanks to a generous donation in memory of Burton Henry Upjohn, a series of performances just for preschoolers is offered the first Saturday of each month at 10 a.m. Seating is limited; free tickets are available at 9 a.m. on the day of the performance.

Kalamazoo’s Jewish community contributed substantially to the city’s economic vitality in the late 19th century. This program, marking the 350th anniversary of Jewish settlement in America, explores its origins and contributions.

THE TOWNSHIPS OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY: PAVILION Oct. 17; 1:30–2:30 p.m.

First settled in 1834, Pavilion Township was organized in 1836 and included Portage Township. Explore the story of Pavilion from the arrival of first settler Carlo Vorce.

THE TOWNSHIPS OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY: CHARLESTON

Oct. 2: Jenifer Ivinskas Strauss tells Halloween stories Nov. 6: Pippin Puppets presents “The Toy Box” Dec. 4: Carri Wilson tells stories from around the world

Oct. 31; 1:30–2:30 p.m.

Jenifer Ivinskas Strauss

William Harrison, son of Kalamazoo’s first permanent settler Bazel Harrison, became a settler in Charleston Township in 1830. This program explores the township’s development since Harrison built his first cabin.

OFF TO THE RACES! Nov. 14; 1:30–2:30 p.m.

Kalamazoo was a center of horse racing for nearly a century. Trace the story of horse racing in Kalamazoo from pioneer times to the Grand Circuit races of the early 20th Century.

THE TOWNSHIPS OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY: COMSTOCK

Carri Wilson

Dec. 5; 1:30–2:30 p.m.

If Horace H. Comstock had had his way, the town in the township that bears his name would have been the county seat of Kalamazoo County. This program explores the fascinating history of Comstock Township.

THE TOWNSHIPS OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY: ROSS Jan. 9, 2005; 1:30–2:30 p.m.

Ross Township is located in the far northeastern corner of Kalamazoo County. Organized in 1839, the first settler, Tillotson Barnes, had arrived in 1831. This program traces the development of this area and the source of its name.

VOLUNTEER ALERT!

The KVM needs volunteers for our hands-on program through the fall and winter. Interested? Contact Connie Greiner for information on volunteer opportunitites at 269/373-7987. SCOUT PROGRAMS—Call 269/373-7990 for a complete listing.

www.kalamazoomuseum.org

FAMILY EVENTS

The Toy Box Saturday, Nov. 6, 2004; 1 and 2 p.m.

Pippin Puppets

Pippin Puppets presents a lively puppet show about what happens when a child’s playthings come out for a party. $5/person.

ACCESSIBILITY SERVICES

The museum is barrier-free. Sign language interpreters may be scheduled for programs with a minimum of two weeks’ notice. Assisted-listening devices are also available in the planetarium. Our TDD number is 269/373-7982.

CHALLENGER LEARNING CENTER IN MEMORY OF ALVIN H. AND EMILY T. LITTLE The CLC is an innovative educational facility complete with Space Station and Mission Control and sends thousands of students each year on simulated space missions. Special group missions are described below. Call 269/373-7965 for details and reservations.

JUNIOR MISSIONS

A specially designed 90-minute mission for children ages 8 and up. Pre-flight hands-on activities prepare junior astronauts for their exciting flight in the CLC’s spacecraft simulator. Successful crews receive certificates and mission memorabilia. An excellent program for scouts and other clubs. $10/ person. Ages 8 & up; min. 8, max. 14 participants. Registration required at least two weeks prior.

CORPORATE TRAINING MISSIONS

The CLC offers a three-hour hands-on team-building experience for corporate groups that consists of one hour of pre- and post-mission activities and a full two-hour space flight simulation. Go to our website for details, or call the number listed above.

CHILDREN’S LANDSCAPE Children’s Landscape is designed to introduce preschoolers and their parents to an interactive museum setting. Hands-on activities, exhibits, and programs are designed for children 5 and under. Children older than 5 may participate only if accompanying a preschool buddy, with the expectation that their play be appropriate to preschool surroundings. Free

Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. Open until 5 p.m. during holiday breaks SEPTEMBER

What I Want to Be Families play, read, sing, eat, work and explore careers together.

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER

Children Around The World Discover how children around the world eat, dress, and play. Enjoy multicultural books, toys, puppets, and music.

DECEMBER / JANUARY

Happy Holidays/Winter In December, learn about Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, Hanukkah, Christmas, and Chinese New Year. In January, many of the activities will be changed to reflect the winter season.

CIRCLE TIME PROGRAMS

These programs are offered free of charge to families and preschool groups. Different stories, musical activities, games, and art projects will be offered each week. Programs are approximately 20 minutes long and begin at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Mon.: Preschool Math (ages 3–5) Tues.: Preschool Science (ages 3–5) Wed.: Preschool Stories (ages 3–5) Thurs.: Preschool Music (ages 3–5) Fri.: Preschool Art ((ages 3–5) 22

See the theater listings on the previous page for a special series of Preschool Performances featuring songs, stories, puppets and more!

Museography

Director’s Column, continued from page 2

But the most spectacular event in Engleman’s long tenure, she remembered, was a sort of demolition derby involving two locomotives. Engleman staged a head-on collision between on-rushing engines. He even put dynamite caps between the locomotives to enhance the crash. You can read more about it in this edition, thanks to the research of our Tom Dietz. David Lyon’s article on Kalamazoomade automobiles reached Boulder, Colo. His mention of a 1917 hand-built, aluminum-bodied, Dusenberg-powered Wolverine automobile brought an e-mail from Mary Gelman, the descendant of its maker, Harry Scott. “Harry was reputed to be quite an inventor,” she wrote. Thanks for reading and for responding to our efforts to make Museography worthy of your interest and attention. If you have comments, questions, or thoughts that you would like to share, drop me a line at rnorris@kvcc.edu.

Mysterious What

Mystery Object used as a trouser holder

www.kalamazoomuseum.org

What are we looking for?

The kinds of things museums look for might surprise you. It isn’t always a great work of art or a piece of fancy furniture… more often it’s the stuff of daily life. Today the Kalamazoo Valley Museum is collecting for the 20th century. If it was used between 1900 and 1999, and can help tell the story of southwest Michigan, it may be just what we’re looking for. If you have something you think belongs in a museum, please contact Tom Dietz, curator of research, at 269/373-7984 or tdietz@kvcc.edu. Our Wish List includes: Humphrey products (see article on p. 12 of this issue) Kalamazoo duplex phonograph Civil War uniform Souvenir celery spoon from Kalamazoo

is it? remains a mystery

In the last issue we asked our readers to try to identify a “Mystery Object” that has been in the museum’s collection for 40 years. We had dozens of responses. Many of the guesses were fun to imagine, such as a picture frame or a chip-bag holdMystery Object used as a bookbinding tool er; but the top response was a trouser hanger, followed closely by a bookbinding tool. We searched through old Sears catalogs, the Internet, and even contacted other museums. We were unable to arrive at a definitive answer, but thank everyone who did some of our thinking for us. For now, our object still remains a mystery.

NEW ACQUISITION

Kenner

EASY-BAKE OVEN “Using it made me feel like little Suzy Homemaker.”

years and counting… that’s what the manufacturers of the ever popular Easy-Bake Oven are doing. The little oven just celebrated its 40th birthday and is still going strong.

A classic toy of the 1960s, the Kenner Easy-Bake Oven let its user make “real” cakes, cookies and other baked goods using the power of two electric light bulbs.

What are these objects?

Find out more on page 8.

This year the museum received one of the first models—the classic turquoise oven produced in 1963. It was donated by Charles Dent of Paw Paw. His daughter, Susan, fondly remembers many years of baking and serving its little cakes and brownies at tea parties for her dolls. “Using it made me feel like little Suzy Homemaker,” she said. The Easy-Bake Oven was a quintessential girl’s toy of the 1960s. It found its way into 500,000 little girls’ homes in the first year alone. Today it is a museum piece filled with good memories for thousands of one-time Suzy Homemaker wannabes.

Ask the KVM! Have a question about a person, object, or artifact that relates to the history of southwest Michigan? Send your question to Tom Dietz, the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s curator of research (269/373-7984 or tdietz@kvcc.edu) and you may see it answered in a future issue of Museography.

Museography

Movies at the Museum Join us in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater for a great schedule of movies. The Stryker Theater features a big-screen, high-definition projection system and Dolby 5.1 sound system. Seating is limited. All shows begin at 7 p.m. on Saturdays and at 3 p.m. on Sundays. $5 admission. Also check out our free documentary programs on our website: www.kalamazoomuseum.org

FILM MOVEMENT SERIES

First weekend of the month—Award-winning independent movies and the best of international film festivals!

SHOW AND TELL SERIES

Second weekend of the month— Filmmakers show and discuss their work.

Oct. 2 & 3: The Party’s Over (USA) with “Eau” (Belgium—short film) Nov. 6 & 7: The Man of the Year (Brazil) with “Confection” (USA—short film) Dec. 4 & 5: Falling Angels (Canada) Feb. 5 & 6: El Bola (Spain) with “More” (UK—short film)

Free admission! Oct. 9 & 10: Gary Glaser Nov. 13 & 14: Tom Ludwig Dec. 11 & 12: Mannie Gentile Jan. 8 & 9: Dhera Strauss

AMERICAN FILM CLASSICS

Oct. 23 & 24: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (France)

Third weekend of the month— Classic films always worth enjoying!

Oct. 16 & 17: Star Wars Trilogy $10 pass for the 3 movies

EXCEPTIONAL!!! Digitally restored and re-mastered version on high-definition projection and Dolby 5.1 sound system. Experience it as never before.

2 p.m.: Star Wars 4:30 p.m.: The Empire Strikes Back 7 p.m.: Return of the Jedi (Sunday 3 p.m.: Star Wars only) Nov. 20 & 21: Elmer Gantry

“Evocative, lyrical, mysterious, complex… One of the pivotal Burt Lancaster films” Also starring Jean Simmons.

Dec. 18 & 19: Modern Times

“One of the most elaborate cinematic critiques on the effect of mass production.” “Hilarious…” Starring Charlie Chaplin

Jan. 15 & 16: The Bank Dick “A Comedy Classic”

Feb. 19 & 20: The Maltese Falcon

“A story of three men and a girl… walking hand in hand with murder.” Starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor

The Kalamazoo Valley Museum 230 N. Rose Street downtown Kalamazoo FREE General Admission Open Daily HOURS:

Mon. – Fri. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sat. 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sun. and Holidays 1 to 5 p.m.

269/373-7990 • 800/772-3370 www.kalamazoomuseum.org

FOREIGN FILM CLASSICS Fourth weekend of the month

“One of the most beautiful color films ever made.” “Jacques Demy’s masterpiece of music and romance.” Winner of the 1964 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize Starring Catherine Deneuve

Nov. 27 & 28: The Bicycle Thief (Italy)

“A masterpiece.” “Among the top 10 films of all time.” Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film

Jan. 22 & 23: Children of Paradise (France)

“Named at Cannes as the greatest French film of all time” Marcel Carné, Jacques Prévert and Arletty.

Feb. 26 & 27: Closely Watched Trains (Czech Republic) “A masterpiece of human observation” “One of the best loved films of the Czech New Wave”

SPECIAL EVENTS Halloween Special! Oct. 30 & 31: The Mummy (1932) Holiday Special: Dec. 27–31 at 1:30 p.m.: Around the World in 80 Days “Liberty on the Border” Exhibition Opening Film Jan 29 & 30: Gone With the Wind

Create your passport to adventure during our Winter Holiday Hands-on Happenings on…

The Great World Tour! READY FOR TRAVEL MONDAY, DEC. 27; 1–4 P.M. Get ready for a road trip! Prepare a scavenger hunt, packing list, car games and more. Brownies can earn their Travel Right Try-it.

GLOBAL TRAVELER TUESDAY, DEC 28; 1–4 P.M. Discover exciting places to visit on this imaginary trip around the world. Brownies can earn their Around the World Try-it.

FRIENDS EVERYWHERE WEDNESDAY, DEC. 29; 1–4 P.M. Create gifts, stationery, and secret codes for your friends across the globe. Brownies can earn their Friends are Fun Try-it.

JUST LIKE US THURSDAY, DEC. 30; 1–4 P.M. Learn about children throughout the world from where they live, to what they wear, and how they talk. Brownies can earn their Brownie Girl Scouts Around the World Try-it.

INTERNATIONAL GAMES FRIDAY, DEC. 31; 1–4 P.M. Create a variety of board games and toys. Plus play group games like “jan-ken-pon” and “sheep and hyena.” Brownies can earn their Playing Around the World Try-it.

GREAT WORLD TOUR DAILY FEATURES DEC. 27–31 CHALLENGER MINI-MISSIONS 2 & 3 p.m. $3/person “SEASON OF LIGHT” PLANETARIUM SHOW 1 p.m. $3/person AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (original 3-hour 1956 ﬁlm) 1:30 p.m. $5/person